Parking space still big worry on Kittitas/Mission senior housing project
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by nevonnemcdaniels in News
by Nevonne McDaniels
Parking remains the biggest concern with Intercommunity Mercy Housing’s proposal to build a $29 million, 124-unit senior apartment complex over the .96-acre parking lot at the corner of Mission and Kittitas in Wenatchee.
But it is not the only issue that some hope will put the brakes on the project.
Questions of whether affordable senior housing is needed downtown — as opposed to affordable workforce housing — and the best use of public funds ($29 million) and resources (the parking lot space) also were laid out on the table at the Jan. 14 Affordable Housing Task Force meeting.
In the end, the task force voted 5-4 (See The Vote below) to recommend the Wenatchee City Council approve the project, but sent a list of specific concerns for the council to consider along with the recommendation. The council is expected to review the issue early in February, possibly at a work study session, and take action at its Feb. 25 meeting.
The task force was formed in the fall of 2008 to look at how to encourage the development of affordable housing projects in the city. In July 2009, the city requested proposals for affordable housing projects using any of the four city-owned parking lots as leverage for public/private partnerships.
The proposal by Intercommunity Mercy Housing, a Seattle-based nonprofit specializing in affordable housing, developed from that request and was presented in October.
The Wenatchee Downtown Association and the city of Wenatchee have copies of the two plans.
The affordable housing element — in which rents are subsidized based on income — typically requires public funds in the form of federal grants and tax credits as well as local matches. Projects are rated based on several things, including targeted population, current need, local match and other criteria. The higher the rating, the more likely funding will be approved.
Mercy Housing’s proposal uses the “air space” over the public parking lot as its local match and targets low-income seniors.
When the project was presented to the public and the task force on Oct. 15, area business owners and task force members questioned the need for senior housing as opposed to affordable housing for people still in the workforce, but most of the concern was on parking — the number and size of the spaces once the project was completed, as well as during the construction project.
Based on that public input, Mercy Housing revised its plan, which led to a new presentation on Jan. 14.
The revised plan has 124 housing units (down from 135) and 157 parking spaces, with 90 public and 67 reserved for apartment dwellers, which still would be a variance from the city parking code. The previous plan had 127 parking stalls total.
Currently, the public parking lot has 107 spaces and is accessed from Kittitas Street. In Mercy’s plan, the large parking lot would be accessible through the alley, with a smaller 30-space parking lot accessible from Kittitas Street.
“This is a lousy attempt at fixing the parking concerns,” said Ron Lodge, owner of Keyhole Security, whose business backs the alley that would be the access for the public parking lot.
He disputed a parking survey conducted in October that showed an average of 75 cars in the parking lot per day, saying it’s more like 90 average, and said the size of the parking spaces is also a concern, with little maneuvering room for the larger vehicles, especially since the spaces would be 90-degree angles.
“I hope we don’t have to move out of town like all the others have done.”
Jean Hegge, owner of Wenatchee Honda
Jean Hegge, owner of Wenatchee Honda at 314 S. Wenatchee Ave., said her 13 employees use the parking lot every day, and customers who have trailered snowmobiles in for repair use the lot while waiting for work to be done. The alternative is parking on the street and risking what are now $30 parking tickets, which the business then pays for their customers.
“I hope we don’t have to move out of town like all the others have done,” she said. “This would have a huge impact on us.”
Another major parking concern, should the project be approved, is where to park during the construction phase.
Not all the concerns, though, were about parking logistics. The discussion also covered the $29 million price tag, most of which would come from tax credits.
“I think other sites are more affordable to use with that taxpayer money,” said task force member Jamie Wallace.
Wenatchee City Councilman Tony Veeder, also a member of the task force, agreed.
“It seems like we could get more for our money at a different site,” he said.
But the question of how the money is being spent is not the task force concern, said task force member Judith Lurie.
“It is not our job to figure out how the housing trust spends its money. It’s our interest to figure out how to get the maximum development of affordable housing in Wenatchee. The Housing Finance Commission will decide if the project is the best use of the money.”
Lurie said she sees the project as a way to help meet the comprehensive plan requirement to provide affordable housing.
“The city has already made that commitment and said it would offer incentives, like providing parking reductions. I don’t think the tradeoff will be as bad as people think,” she said.
Some of the task force’s concerns
Parking
- How is Mercy Housing justifying the variance request of one parking space for every two housing units?
- How will they keep the public parking open to the public if there is overflow from the housing units?
- How are they going to design the access to the upper parking lot from Kittitas Street without losing any spaces?
- Can they show a need for affordable senior housing rather than workforce housing?
will the public parking remain - Where will downtown business owners, employees and shoppers park during construction?
- What about handicap parking?
- Testimony from business owners says the alley is often blocked by delivery trucks. How will that be addressed? Is it a fire risk?
Senior housing
- Is the need for affordable senior housing truly enough to justify a $29 million project?
- Should Mercy Housing change the focus of the project from senior housing to workforce housing, the Affordable Housing Task Force asked that the proposal be sent back to them.
Cost
- Would it be better to go back to try and find a different way to partnership on a project that would provide more affordable housing opportunities for less taxpayer money?
The vote
The Affordable Housing Task Force has 13 members. Nine voted on the project proposal Jan. 14, 5 in favor, 4 opposed.
Yes votes
- Mary Cook, Just Housing Coalition
- Alicia McRae, Housing Authority of Chelan County and Wenatchee
- Randy Zielinski, Whitebird Construction
- Judith Lurie, Northwest Justice Project
- Bob Soue, Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council
No votes
- Loretta Watson, Rental Association of Wenatchee
- Sara Dempsey, Wenatchee Downtown Association
- Jamie Wallace, Windermere Real Estate
- Tony Veedor, Wenatchee City Council
- Civil
- Smart
- On-topic
- Free of profanity
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